Why?
by RobotPenguin
Summary: I'm not good with summaries. It starts during The End Of Tears. First chapter starts the same, and I twist the end as I see fit. Yaoi. My first story.
1. Chapter 1

Why?

I conjured a Chidori while Naruto made a Rasengan – I believe that is what he called it. I growled and focused all my new-found power into my hand, I barely grasp that my Chidori has turned grayish-black. The sound, however, which was a deafening harmony of chirping birds, was hard to ignore when it warped to the ear-splitting melody of…birds taking flight?

'I don't have the time to be focusing on such things.'

I look back up to Naruto and notice that his Rasengan has turned purple. 'Him. This person before me. His disturbingly crimson eyes. The marks – whiskers – on his cheeks, deepened. Fangs? This…this…_thing. _It is not him. It is not Naruto. Not my…best friend.'

I must do it. I need to do it. I took a breath, and lunged.

"Ransengan!"

"Chidori!"

We collided in the middle, white light appearing where we clashed.

I couldn't do it.

I switched hands and punched Naruto in the chest, I couldn't do it. I couldn't kill him. I couldn't kill my best friend. Then I realized something. He scratched my headband, a feat that I declared impossible for him. I smiled sadly inside.

'That dobe…'

Darkness suddenly replaced the light. It expanded around us until everything around was consumed inside it.

We stared at each other. No sound made between us.

We both gazed at each other with empty eyes.

The light slowly dissipated. Naruto lay below me. The sun shone through the clouds, and a spotlight glowed around us. The light slowly became smaller and smaller, eventually disappearing on Naruto's face.

I stared down at Naruto as my headband fell beside Naruto. Rain began to pour, and I felt a sharp pain in my arm, and I fell, grabbing it. I looked Naruto straight in the face, while the rain continued to fall.

His piercing azure eyes flitted open. "Sasuke, please…please don't leave me."

"I'm sorry, Naruto."

He passed out. I began to rise, but then I stopped. I decided that I probably would never get another chance to do this. So I took it.

I kissed him.

He wasn't conscious, but it's the most I'll ever get.

I quickly got up and sprinted away, ignoring my body as it screamed for me to stop. I needed to get a far away as I could. I couldn't be near him any longer.

'I'm sorry, and…I love you'


	2. Chapter 2

Why he pretended to be happy I don't know. If I were him, I would have broken down, even more than I already have. His heart was definitely bleeding, everyone's was. We all felt betrayed; no doubt Naruto felt the worst. I made him promise to bring Sasuke back, and he couldn't. He still believes he can, but I came to terms with the situation, and even though I hoped that one day Sasuke would come back, I knew he wouldn't. I told Naruto this while we were walking alone after he finished another speech about bringing Sasuke back for me, but he rejected the thought.

"_I need to bring him back, Sakura." Naruto said, frowning at my statement. "I have to."_

"_Why Naruto, why do you think that? It's just not…possible. All he wants is revenge." I retorted, exasperated with his stubbornness._

"_I have to because-" He paused before sucking in air, and exhaling painfully slow before continuing._

"_I have to because, as much as I hate it, we need him. He wasn't just a teammate to-" He hesitated once again._

"_-to us. Nothing will be the same if he isn't here. Now I need to go meet Iruka." Naruto heatedly answered before walking away._

'_But Naruto…' I thought sadly as I turned away. _

'_Everything has already changed.' _

He greeted me with the usual howl and ridiculous grin.

"Oy! Sakura-chan!"

I reply with my usual smile, and follow the blonde to the bridge – or what's left of it hehe – to meet with Kakashi, he wanted to talk to us about something. We arrived shortly, and Naruto's golden head bobbed comically as he loudly talked about nothing while we waited. I loosely followed his train of thought, nodding and commenting when needed, but inside, my heart ached for him. Even though he doesn't know it, most of us can see clear through his meager façade. We all knew he was hurting.

'Why must he continue to pretend?' I dejectedly wondered

I was jerked from my thoughts when Kakashi finally arrived. He was forty minutes late.

'Ha. Early.' I mentally snorted.

"Sorry I'm late today! I was trying to rush over here so fast that I tripped and had to be sent to Intensive Care. I came as fast as I could though, honest." Kakashi drawled happily, his visible eye forming a cheerful curve.

Naruto puffed at his bold-faced lie. "Well now that you're here, what did you want to talk to us about?"

"Well, I'm here to talk about Sasuke." Kakashi stated, as if he said he wanted to talk about the weather.

In my shock, I felt my eyes grow three times too big. When I threw myself out of my sudden stupor, I looked up at Naruto. He had lost all humor in his face, his body stiff.

"What about him?" Naruto asked, clearly suspicious.

Kakashi sighed. "We all know he left us three years ago. You, Naruto, have been constantly trying to bring him back. All of us have. And we failed, everytime. If you look around, most of us have given up on him. As much as we like to think otherwise, Naruto, he's not coming back-"

"That's not true!" Naruto screamed, furious at what Kakashi was saying. "I will bring him back! Even if I have to sacrifice myself! I promised, and I never break a promise!"

"Naruto…" I griped. "I told you before; you don't have to bring him back anymore. It's an impossible job." I began crying while Naruto looked at me with a completely blank face.

"He's given up on us, Naruto. Even I believe it's time for us-" My voice broke, and I took a deep breath before choking out my next sentence.

"I think we should return the favor."

Kakashi's eyes - or eye rather - opened fully at my outburst. Naruto took a step back in his shock.

"But Sakura…" Naruto said through his teeth, fists clamped firmly.

"You loved him!" He suddenly spat.

"It was always one-sided, we all knew that. He never cared for anyone." I whispered.

"That's not true! He, he cared for all of us!" he growled.

I began shouting at this.

"Really, Naruto? When? When did he show one **ounce** of compassion or us?"

I closed my eyes and brought my hands to my face. I was shaking from the amount of emotion I was pouring into my words.

"One ounce?" I sobbed. "In fact, he tried to **kill **you! Or did you forget that? Why do you want to kill yourself over someone who obviously doesn't want you? Why must you be so bullheaded?" I finally shrieked.

I froze from the loud crash I heard to my left. I slowly lifted my head and looked at the source of the sound.

Naruto's hand was lodged in a tree, blood lazily streaming down his arm. His hand was clearly broken. The tree was completely blown. I hadn't even noticed he had walked away.

Kakashi was stunned silent at our sudden argument, he probably sensed that this was not the first time we had this disagreement.

I slowly crept towards Naruto, who was shaking in his anger. My hand gently touched his, which he quickly slapped away. He wrenched his hand from the tree's trunk, which resulted in said tree falling over in a cloud of dust.

"Don't touch me." He said, completely emotionless.

"Naruto…" I breathed, "Let me heal you." I attempted to grasp his hand, and he sharply pulled away.

"You can't heal me." Naruto muttered. "Only he can."

He turned. He was walking away again.

Away from Kakashi and I.

Away from the bridge.

Away from himself.


	3. Chapter 3

**Uh…heh…hi…**

***silence***

**Okay, okay! I'm sorry to anyone reading my story for not writing for like, 5 months! Stuff happened, and after that I felt that I kind of lost my spark or something... so if this chapter isn't as good as you guys want it to be I apologize.**

**But that's okay because I'm writing now right? :D**

***dodges tomatoes***

**Fine…  
**

**Anyway…on with the story!**

* * *

We all sensed the changes happening to Naruto ever since **he** left him at the Valley of the End, but after the last outburst he had with Sakura, Naruto began to change at an even more disturbing, destructive rate. He began to train.

Every day, it was the same thing. Wake up, train, eat, train, eat, train, sleep. It was a vicious cycle that Naruto forced upon himself. Naruto no longer wanted to bring **him** back, he_ needed _to. Instead of getting stronger like he wanted, Naruto began to become sickly. His bones jutting out, unnaturally thin. He now resembled a shadow of his former self.

Then there was Naruto's mind.

He no longer attempted to hide behind a fake smile for his friends' sake. He no longer laughed. All he did was train. Train, train, train. That's all he could do. All he needed to do.

My small apartment was filled with the sounds of my bodily convulsions. I knew I was pushing myself, but I didn't know I would vomit. I flushed the toilet free of my stomach and stood up; swooning a bit, but he quickly steadied himself.

Naruto rinsed out his mouth, and then began to inspect his body. He sighed disappointed at the sight of himself. He wanted to get stronger, not for himself, but for **him**. But he seemed to only be getting weaker. Then Naruto looked at himself in the mirror for the first time in weeks.

'Why am I doing this?'

But then he remembered. Because he needed him back. He needed him. He needed the moments they had together. He needed the secret love between them, even if it was askew. He needed his body. His scent. His everything.

He needed **Sasuke**_._

Naruto turned away from the mirror and went back to training.

* * *

Sakura gazed at Naruto's slightly dilapidated apartment with sad eyes. She was worried when Sasuke first left, but now she didn't know what to do. Everyone was worried about Naruto, if anyone tried to talk to him about Sasuke, Naruto would blow up and storm off, yelling how everyone lost their faith and preaching his vow to bring him back.

Sakura bowed her head in shame. She was guilty for every callous word she said to Naruto. For every malicious thought she had about him. Long ago she realized how valuable a person he was, and it was agonizing to see Naruto in this state.

She was forced out of her bleak thoughts when a hand placed itself on her shoulder. Sakura looked up and discovered that the comforting hand belonged to Kakashi. She exhaled and cast her head down once more.

"This isn't going to end well is it?"

"No…no I don't believe it is."

Sakura's eyes began to water, but then she heard a sound.

She slowly fixated her gaze upon the entrance to Naruto's apartment, and she saw him there.

When they made eye contact, neither said a word. They both just stood there, Naruto glaring, and Sakura pleading with her eyes.

Kakashi coughed. "I think we should get going."

Sakura and Naruto finally tore their eyes from each other to glance at Kakashi and nod the agreement. The three of them then began to sprint in unison to their destination.

* * *

It was a fairly simple mission.

The three of them just had to find some lowly, corrupted politician who had taken a few – albeit large – bribes, and they just had to get him to confess and throw him in jail. Many commoners would be happy to be rid of him. So would the truthful politicians. So there wasn't much thought needed fro this mission, and everyone was fine with that. Naruto and Sakura would have been fine with this mission themselves, Kakashi was really only there for observation.

So their mission concluded with a sniveling legislator being chucked into a dark, dank cell. As they started walking away, the congressman began weeping and apologizing, making promises filled with money and women. The three ninjas just ignored his pleas and continued walking.

They walked in silence.

Growing sick of their pace and absence of sound, Naruto exclaimed, "Can we_ go_ now?" and began to get into a running stance, but then Kakashi gripped his arm.

"_Relax_. We have no reason to rush. Isn't the forest this time of year beautiful?" Kakashi then threw his up in the air, gesturing to the forest surrounding them while throwing on his carefree smile. Sakura quickly agreed.

"Yes, yes! We should take a bit of our time admiring the beauty around us! We don't get much time to ourselves you know~!" She gave Naruto a sickeningly sweet smile.

Naruto rolled his eyes, but complied.

They all walked at a relaxed pace, just enjoying the sights and sounds of the forest around them. No one said a word. They all basked in the comfortable silence between them.

Then they froze.

"Is it…" Sakura began.

"Yes…it is" Naruto growled.

"Both of you, let me handle this. Go. Now." Kakashi ordered.

"What?" Naruto asked, incredulously. "Never! We're here together, and we'll kick their asses for sure!" Naruto smiled confidently.

Kakashi and Sakura both looked at Naruto, shocked. Then they both smiled.

'Just like the old Naruto…'

But then they both turned their attention back to the opening in the forest.

The three of them held their breath as two figures walked out.

"Compose yourselves. We come not to fight, but to obtain" The raven said in his always flat tone of voice.

"Yes." Kisame agreed. "Itachi speaks the truth, you can relax. We only need to speak."

* * *

**Once again, sorry if it feels rushed, isn't what you expected, etc. It's just that I haven't written on so lone I wanted to get SOMETHING out, heh.**


End file.
